1915679 - Firefox is repeatedly (re)installing updates and requiring a restart

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[intercept]

Attachment: A screenshot of my Firefox updates on 2024-08-29 showing repeated unnecssary install of point releases.

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:129.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/129.0

Steps to reproduce:

Use Firefox 129.0.1 or 129.0.2 as normal, then at some point open a new tab or reload a tab.

Actual results:

A page displayed that included the text "An update to Firefox started in the background. You'll need to restart to finish the update."
(I don't have screenshots of this page, because every time I see it I think restarting will fix it.)

After updating, the update history showed a point release update had been installed multiple previously.

Expected results:

The tab should have loaded as normal unless, say Firefox 129.0.3 was actually available to be installed on my machine.

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Toolkit::Application Update' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[Eric Chen]

Thanks for reporting this issue! Firefox 130 is released today, please try updating to 130 and let me know if the same issue exists :)

If you're still experiencing this (or if it happens again in the future), we'll need to see your update logs to further pinpoint the problem. Please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to about:config.
2. Set app.update.log to true.
3. Open the Browser Console either with the hotkey Control+Shift+J (Command+Shift+J on macOS), or via Hamburger Menu->More Tools->Browser Console
4. In the Filter textbox at the top, enter AUS:SVC to filter out everything except the update messages.
5. Copy the messages out of the Browser Console and attach them to this bug.

Thank you!

Comment 3

[intercept]

I updated to Firefox 130 yesterday, then before I had time to do the rest of the steps above, I got a new error:
"Using an older version of Firefox can corrupt bookmarks and browsing history already saved to an existing Firefox profile. To protect your information, create a new profile for this installation of Firefox." with options to [[Exit]] or [[Create New Profile]].

Not wanting a new profile, I exited; I opened Firefox again only to get the same error again.
I used another browser to download Firefox and do a fresh install, which then worked fine yesterday through the end of the work day.

Today at first Firefox was fine, and I followed your instructions:

I toggled app.update.log from false to true, and got these messages from the Browser Console:

AUS:SVC Logging current UpdateService status:
AUS:SVC UpdateService.canUsuallyCheckForUpdates - able to check for updates
AUS:SVC UpdateService.canCheckForUpdates - able to check for updates
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - testing write access C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\update.test
AUS:SVC isServiceInstalled - returning true
AUS:SVC shouldUseService - returning true
AUS:SVC getCanApplyUpdates - bypass the write checks because the Windows Maintenance Service can be used
AUS:SVC isServiceInstalled - returning true
AUS:SVC shouldUseService - returning true
AUS:SVC getCanStageUpdates - able to stage updates using the service
AUS:SVC Elevation required: false
AUS:SVC Other instance of the application currently running: false
AUS:SVC Downloading: false
AUS:SVC End of UpdateService status

I was then working on things, including responding to this bug report when webpages started loading slowly and even a local .png wouldn't display when opened it in Firefox. I decided to restart. My computer, which is running
Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621, then finished installing a firmware update, rebooted and upon restarting and opening Firefox I again got the prompt: "Using an older version of Firefox can corrupt bookmarks and browsing history already saved to an existing Firefox profile. To protect your information, create a new profile for this installation of Firefox." with options to [[Exit]] or [[Create New Profile]].

Using "Add or remove programs" I saw the Firefox version listed as 129.0.

I again installed Firefox (using the installer I downloaded yesterday) and at the moment things are fine. Using "Add or remove programs" the Firefox version listed as 130.0.

Following the instructions again, I first confirmed that app.update.log was still set to true. The messages from the Browser log now are:

AUS:SVC CheckerService:checkForUpdates - checkType: 2
AUS:SVC CheckerService:checkForUpdates - Making new check request for check id 3.
AUS:SVC CheckerService:getUpdateURL - checkType: 2
AUS:SVC CheckerService:getUpdateURL - update URL: https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/6/Firefox/130.0/20240829075237/WINNT_x86_64-msvc-x64/en-CA/release/Windows_NT%252010.0.0.0.22621.4037%2520(x64)/ISET%3ASSE4_2%2CMEM%3A16073/default/default/update.xml?force=1
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - sending request to: https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/6/Firefox/130.0/20240829075237/WINNT_x86_64-msvc-x64/en-CA/release/Windows_NT%252010.0.0.0.22621.4037%2520(x64)/ISET%3ASSE4_2%2CMEM%3A16073/default/default/update.xml?force=1
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - request got 'load' event
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - request completed downloading document
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - number of updates available: 0

Comment 4

[Max Christian Pohle [:/dev/max]]

Hi Intercept!
I hope that it now keeps stable after the latest manual installation.

Hey Robin!

• Does this update url look strange to you?
• Do you have any idea what else could cause this issue or how to debug this further?

Comment 5

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

(In reply to Max from comment #4)

• Does this update url look strange to you?

At a glance, it looks reasonable, but I didn't try, like, validating each individual component. Is there something in particular I ought to be looking at?

• Do you have any idea what else could cause this issue or how to debug this further?

Most likely, this is either a duplicate of Bug 1480452, a variant of Bug 1705217, or something like Bug 1892995.

The general steps for tracking this down more specifically are to:

1. Determine if Firefox is being updated at all when this happens. See Bug 1892995 Comment 9.
2. If Firefox is being updated, determine if it is being updated by Firefox. This can generally be done by checking logs and/or update history.
3. If Firefox is being updated by Firefox, determine why. Generally this ends up being a multiple profile situation, but if there is another way of this happening we definitely need to know about it.

If Firefox isn't being updated at all, we should figure out if Proofpoint is being used. If so, we can probably just dup this to Bug 1892995. If not, I'd redirect to Core::IPC and let them debug further. Our team doesn't actually own the component that detects updates and shows the "Restart Required" page; that's Core::IPC.

If Firefox is being updated, but not by Firefox, it would be good if we can find out what, if possible. But this can be tricky. Usually it comes down to just asking the user if they know what could be doing it. Potentially the user could just keep Process Monitor running until the problem happens and then find out what process is messing with our files. But that's a bit involved so some users may not want to do that.

Comment 6

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:mpohle, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 7

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

Uh oh, this bug seems to have gotten dropped. I'm sorry about that. Are you still having this problem? The next thing to check here is if updates are actually being installed.

When this happens next, could you check some information and report back? First, navigate to about:support (navigation to about: urls should continue to work, even when Firefox is in this state). What does the "Build ID" row say? Now open the installation directory (about:support lists the "Application Binary" path, if you can't remember where you installed it). Locate and open the file application.ini. There should be a row that says BuildID=.... What is that build id? Does it match the one listed in about:support?

After restarting the browser to get rid of the "Restart Required" page, please navigate back to about:support and click the "Show Update History" button. Does it list an update as having been installed around the time that "Restart Required" was shown?

Comment 8

[intercept]

This issue persists. I'm currently on 131.0. This issue is on my work machine and I don't know how to assess whether my employer uses Proofpoint. I was away from work due to illness and did not experience any similar issues while away, nor was I able to address questions shared above.

Back at work I tried to switch to the ESR version of Firefox, but it wouldn't install for me.

The presentation of my issue(s) varies. Sometimes restarting Firefox helps, and sometimes restarting my computer helps.

Every couple days I end up reinstalling Firefox. So that I don't have to use Edge more than necessary, I keep the most recent version of Firefox on m y machine and I reinstall it as necessary when my other methods don't work.

I'll try to give an update when invariably I experience the issue again soon, but getting my work done without a functioning browser is hard enough. Submitting a bug report using a browser without a functioning browser is much harder, especially when my passwords were only saved in Firefox. If there is a way for me to access relevant logs without using Firefox directly, I could possibly share those while Firefox is not working. I'm afraid that if I reinstall before collecting the log it will obscure the problem.

Comment 9

[Chris DuPuis]

This process is a bit of work, but it should let you access the logs without running Firefox.

Depending on your configuration, the specific paths may be different, but this should help you with finding the relevant logs:

First, see where your program data is being saved. On my machine, this is: C:\ProgramData, so that's a good starting point. (If you can start Firefox, open about:support, find the Update Folder entry, and note the parent folder that the Mozilla-... folders are in.)

Next, look for the appropriate Mozilla-... folder. The name will start with Mozilla- and end with a sequence of random letters, numbers, and hyphens. If there is only one folder whose name starts with Mozilla in program data folder, that's the one. Otherwise, look at the Date Modified for each Mozilla folder, and pick the one that was modified near the time when you suspect that an update issue occurred.

Then, under the appropriate Mozilla- folder, open the updates folder. Inside of this folder, there should be several folders with names consisting of random letters and numbers. Find the folder or folders whose Date Modified is close to when the issue occurred.

Inside each of these folders and their subfolders updates and backgroundupdate, look for any files whose names end with .log or .moz_log

Comment 10

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

We've been waiting on a response from the reporter for some time, so I'm going to go ahead and close this. We can reopen if we get a response.